Year 1 - Letter 18 - Fairfield, CA

I can do this because the Lord provides a way.

Hello one and all.

 

I hope you had an amazing Christmas. I sure did! Thank you to all of you who sent me wonderful packages, cards and other goodies. It all made me so happy. I have to appologize this letter is going to be kind of short because I have had a hard time thinking of what to say. Miracles are happening in Fairfield. We are teaching investigators that we have not been able to see for weeks and we found a new investigator who is incredible. Today I feel impressed to tell you a spiritual experience that I had yesterday. I do not tell you this to show my weaknesses or to complain but to show you that the Lord always provides a way and that he is there to help us. So bare with me and know that I am really doing alright.

 

Yesterday it was Hermana Merkley and I's turn to teach Gospel Principles and she had been busy preparing her talk for sacrament meeting so I was kind of going to lead it. I was nervous and just did not know what to do. It was a constant struggle for me to think of what to say Spanish and I was letting the members of the class really intimidate me. The class was alright and I felt the Spirit so strongly but I felt like I did not do all that I could have. Hermana Merkley could see that I was frustrated so she would not let us go to the combined priesthood and relief scoiety until we talked about how I was feeling. I just started crying and then Sister Toolson saw me and she being the caring person that she is spent the whole second hour talking with me and telling me that she has been impressed with all that I know and she is so thankful for the opportunity to know me. I felt like I was talking to my mom and it was great. Then President Ortega (the branch president) some how found out that I was having a rough time and he was a missionary in the Dominican Republic and had a hard time learning Spanish as well. He gave me a list of scriptures to read. One of those scriptures was 1 Nephi 3:7. I have read this scripture thousands of times but I have never realized the part about how the Lord does not give commandments without providing a way. I know that the Lord has commandmend me to speak Spanish and so HE WILL provide the way for me to do it.

 

I was still feeling discourage so I aksed Elder Connors for a blessing. The second they laid their hands on my head I felt peace. The blessing was the most incredible thing ever. It was from God and exactly what I needed to hear. I won't go into detail but the words gave me such peace and I know that as I have faith in them they will be manifest in my learning Spanish.

 

So the moral of the story is that Spanish is stinkin hard to learn but I know that I am supposed to learn it and that because I have been called to do it and that the Lord will provide a way! I must turn to God and seek for his help. Also the priesthood is incredible and will bless our lives.

 

Thank you for your support! You are all amazing and I feel your love and prayers! Don't be afraid to call upon the power of the Priesthood and know that the Lord will provide a way for you!

 

I know that I can do this and that I am a daughter of God and He loves me and all of you.

 

I love you too!

 

Love,

Hermana Hillary

Year 1 - Letter 17 - Fairfield, CA

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas Eve!

 

Wow! I can't believe that Christmas is tomorrow! This Christmas season has been incredible! I have loved having the opportunity to focus on the true meaning of Christmas! Christmas is such a wonderful time to help people focus on the Savior! This week has just been so amazing! I can't even express how great it is! First of all, we had the privilige to attend an all mission christmas conference. It was so much fun and it really felt like just a big family reunion with 160 kids. I loved meeting so many more of the wonderful missionaries that I have the chance to serve with. We watched great Christmas videos and heard wonderful Christmas messages from President and Sister Alba. President Alba announced that in the new year we will go from 160 missionaries to 250 missionaries and we currently have 10 Spanish sisters and in the new year we will have 34 Spanish sisters. It is CRAZY. It means that every one will train and maybe have to train two at a time. The field is CRAZY and truly so ready for the harvest. This week we have bee nable to see many of our less actives that we have never met before or that we have not seen for a really long time. We also had a little family home evening last night with our branch and watched the Joy to the World DVD. One of our investigators Rosana, who was actualy my first investigator, came and we had not seen her for about 3 weeks so it was great! The spirit was so strong and we were able to get a follow up appointment with her. We are working really hard and the success does not always come but when it does it is really sweet. We definently have trials of our faith but it makes us stronger. Hermana Merkley is incredible and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to serve with her this Christmas season.

 

Sorry this is short but it is hard to express my feelings right now. This Christmas I just want you all to know that I know that this Church is true and I am so thankful for the blessings that it brings to my life and I am so thankful that I can bring these blessings to others. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and I am so thankful that he asked our Heavenly Father which was true and I know that he saw god the father and his son. I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us and will answer our prayers. I know that Jesus Christ is our brother and our Savior. He died for us and he knows everything that we go through and is there to help us. I am thankful for the opportunity to celebrate His life this Christmas. I hope that you all focus on his life and decide what you can give to him this year.

 

Merry Christmas. I love you! God loves you!

 

Have the best Christmas ever!

 

Con Mucho Amor,

 

Hermana Hillary :)

Year 1 - Letter 16 - Fairfield, CA

The power of the Book of Mormon, Christmas Parties, and la Casa de Ants

Hola! Que pasa?

Well my favorite part of writing is coming up with the titles. This one was so fun to come up with and I will expound on all of the above in just a second but I want you to wonder about it all a little more first. First of all, thanks again to all of you who participated in my advent calendar. It is the best and it gives me something to look forward to every day and then something to think about and ponder on through out the day. I have loved reading all of your favorite scriptures, quotes, and Christmas stories.

This week has been jam packed with so many great meetings and experiences. We had a wonderful district meeting on the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is so awesome and such a powerful tool in conversion. President Alba has realized that a lot of times we just hand out Book of Mormons almost for the fun of it but people do not realize the importance or potential that this wonderful book has. So he has encouraged us to teach that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ and a companion to the bible using the Introduction but then to show them the First Book of Nephi and to read the summary explaining it more as we read it with them. Then the next step is to read the summary and first 12 verses of chapter 1 of first Nephi. As we read it with them we apply it to their lives and make sure they are understanding the story. Verse 12 leads the story at a cliff hanger and so then we invite them and ask them if they will finish the first chapter. I hope this makes sense because it is so powerful and as we have used we have seen people get so excited to read the Book of Mormon. Instead of walking away thinking oh I hope the read it we walk away knowing that they will read it because we saw that excitment in their eyes and we saw that they did not want to stop reading. It is really fun to teach it this way and it works!

Christmas in the mission is incredible. It is so fun to share the greatest gift ever every day and to just feel Heavenly Fathers love for His children that live in Fairfield. This week we had our branch Christmas party and boy do Spanish Branches know how to throw a party. It was so fun! We had catered Hawiian pork, chicken and beef, salads, and delicious pies. There was a pinata and tons of Latin dancing. It was just so much fun to be with everyone and to just feel the love that the members showed for one another. Angie our investigator came with Alba (her boyfriends mom) who is less active. We also had so many of our less active memebrs there and it was so just so fun to be with all of these wonderful people that I love.

So now the funniest thing of the week. So since I have been on my mission I have developed a love for cereal and milk (I know finally I have come around to liking it) and one morning this week I went to get a nice bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and to my suprise the box was covered in ants so I killed the ants on the box and went and opened the box and saw ants crawling through my beloved Honey Bunches of Oats. I stopped myself from scraming and just went ahead and took the box out to the trash can outside. I had yogurt for breakfast instead and then told Hermana Merkley about the incident. We looked throught the rest of the cupboards and we didn't see anymore ants. So to make this story short there is trail of ants from one corner of the kitchen cieling to the other corner. We spent two hours later in the day killing ants and cleaning out the Carlson cupboards and now we are paranoid that ants could be crawling on us or on our food. So we are off to buy  air tight containers to protect my Honey Bunches of Oats.

Well the work is a little slow but we still have exciting and wonderful times and I am learning so much.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. I know that this Church is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Love you so much more than my ant covered cereal,

Hermana Hillary

Hermana Clayton and I.

District at the Oakland Temple.

Year 1 - Letter 15 - Fairfield, CA

I Dove In!

Hola! Que pasa en sus vidas? My title this week is that I Dove In and boy did I. I feel like I have spoken more Spanish in these last 6 days than I have my entire mission so far. It has been hard but it has felt so good. I feel like last transfer Hermana Clayton was a very over protective parent that kept me in the baby pool and made me keep my floaties on. Then Hermana Merkley came and has seen that I know how to swim and so she has let me dive into the big kid pool. She has been there to catch me if I need it but she lets me try to swim to the edge first. I hope this makes sense because I came up with it this morning and it just really describes how I have felt this week.

 

Hermana Merkley is incredible she has been out for 8 months. She is from Colorado and is the 4th of 8 children. She came from serving with two native Spanish speakers and has never been the senior companion. She has hair that goes down to the middle of her calf and has never cut her hair in her 23 years of life. I already love her so much. I know that she is who I need to serve with right now. She has amazing goals and ideas and it is going to be a great transfer. I prayed so hard for a good companion this transfer. I prayed for someone who would help me learn spanish, be patient with me and just truly love me. I also told Heavenly Father that if he answered my plea that I would do all that I could to help my companion as well. Heavenly Father answered my prayers and I now I have to do my part.

 

I am helping Hermana Merkley my doing my part in lessons because she is not used to being the one who does most of the talking so I told I will do all that I can so that she won't have to be the one who does most of the talking in this companionship either. It is difficult but as I open my mouth the Lord blesses me with what to say. We have also made it a goal that when we  are not at home we will try and speak only Spanish. It is hard but this goal is helping me learn more and more each day and I am begining to think in Spanish. It is so exciting. Like right now as I type I have to force my mind to think in English it is hard but a way good thing at the same time. I am already growing so much so I know that this transfer is going to be incredible.

 

Also Hermana Merkley is drving which means I have to navigate which is just as hard as driving for me but thank heavens for my GPS. We have gotten lost a few times but we just laugh about it and move on. We have also had a hard time seeing investigators this week but we aren't letting that get us down either. We have just kind of thought that Heavenly Father is just letting us warm up to all of this.

 

We did have a great opportunity to go the the Oakland temple lights with our branch. It was great to be with them and to share the Christmas season with those that I have grown to love. Christmas is such a wonderful time to share the gosple. I would encourage all of you to share the gosple this Christmas.

 

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Have a wonderful day!

 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Hillary

 

Year 1 - Letter 14 - Fairfield, CA

I'm a Big Girl Now

Hola! Como estado?

 Oh my goodness well this week has been so crazy I don't even know where to begin. Let's start off with the fact that my "mom" (Hermana Clayton) "died". I think it was a lot harder for me than it was for her. She was really ready to go. She had a difficult mission but knew that she had truly served with all of her heart, might, mind, and strength and she was ready to move on to her new mission: finding an eternal companion. I loved serving with Hermana Clayton she was truly such an amazing example to me. She was exactly who I needed as my first companion. I was so thankful that she could relate with my frustrations and it was nice to see walking evidence that everything works out. She has such a deep love for everyone she talks to and I hope I can maintain the trust that she has built with the members and our investigators.

So Friday we anticipated the voicemail that would give us the transfer info. The Elders love I mean throughly delight to tease us and so all week had been coming up with new ideas of what could happen and did all that they could to scare me but I am not dumb I knew that whatever happened would be the Lord's will and like Nephi I would go and do the things the Lord commands. The thing that the Lord has commanded me to do this transfer is to stay in Fairfield and serve with Hermana Merkley. I knew that I would stay in Fairfield because President does not believe in white washing (taking out everyone who know s the area and starting over) unless it is absolutley neccessary. I feel like I don't know Fairfield at all but I know the Lord will help me. I do not know much about Hermana Merkley but I do know that she is from Colorado, has super long Rapunzel like hair, and everyone says she is incredible. She has been serving in a trio with two native spanish speakers and had only been with them for one transfer. I think she has been out for about six or seven months.

I will meet her today at about 4 and I am so excited to meet her and just get the work going. Right now I am temporarily serving with Sister Liston who is in my zone and her companion also went home today. She is incredible. We are having so much fun and wish we could premanently serve together. Sister Liston serves in Rio Visto which is a little town about 20 mins away from Fairfield and she is English Speaking. Yesterday was just a normal proselyting day and we served in my area.

Basically, in the last 24 hours I have done many things that scare me half to death. 1. Driving 2. Door approaching in Spanish 3. Teaching in Spanish 4. Talking on the phone in Spanish

Since we are serving in my area it made sense that I drive. I was so scared but Sister Liston is so patient and has helped me just be calm. We couldn't figure out my GPS but she had hers so we have been using it to help us get around. It really has not been bad at all and I have actually kind of enjoted it. And since Sister Liston does not speak Spanish I have had to speak it. That is why I entitled this e-mail I am a big girl now because I have truly grown up. As I have opened my mouth and spoken Spanish I have been so blessed.

Last night we had an incredible lesson with Valente and Yene who are sp ready to be baptized. I invited them to pray about being baptized on January 26th and they said that they are really thinking that this is the church for them and they were excited to pray about if they should be baptized on that day. I was shocked and so happy. I am amazed at my abilities and know that they are not natural that they are truly gifts from God.

The work is moving a long great. Miracles are truly happening and I am excited for this new chapter of my mission. I am ready to open my mouth and share this gospel with everyone.

Your prayers are being answered and the strength that I feel is unreal. Thank you so much for all of your support. I also LOVE my Christmas advent calendar and hearing from all of you. Thank you for making my Christmas so special. Christmas is all about giving and I am truly giving away the best gift ever. I love you all.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Love,

Hermana Hillary